Refueling with Bank Cards; Gasoline Prices on the Rise

The head of the fuel station owners' guild in the country announced a new phase of fuel distribution in Iran, stating that fuel quotas will be provided using bank cards. Asadollah Qalizadeh told ILNA that "we do not need to use a separate card for fuel subsidies." According to Qalizadeh, the fuel system can monitor the amount of fuel dispensed even without a fuel card, and the fuel subsidy can be processed through bank cards at banking terminals during checkout. He emphasized that "we must quickly move towards eliminating the fuel card and replacing it with a bank card," provided that there is no integration between the fuel system and the bank card, and each operates separately. The issue of increasing gasoline prices has been raised since last year and has led to many controversies. Given the experience of the protests in 2019 that followed a sudden increase in fuel prices, Iranian officials quickly deny any discussions about raising fuel prices. In this context, an economic journalist told VOA that "the government, due to its inability to pay fuel subsidies and the heavy budget required for gasoline imports, will be forced to adjust prices." Reza Ghaibi pointed to the imbalance in gasoline production and consumption, stating that "U.S. sanctions and the depletion of the country's treasury of oil dollars have exacerbated problems, and the heavy budget required for subsidized gasoline has posed challenges." According to this economic journalist, the government has been seeking to increase prices since last year, but the implementation of this plan was postponed due to widespread protests last autumn. The report indicates that the increase in gasoline prices was raised last year but faced backlash from representatives and officials. In this regard, Malek Shariati, the spokesperson for the Energy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, emphasized on February 17 that the budget committee's resolution for 2023 to allocate gasoline quotas to households without cars will maintain the government quota of 1,500 tomans and the free quota of 3,000 tomans next year. The plan to allocate gasoline to all households is still being pursued in the parliament. Although details have not been published, experts believe that allocating gasoline to bank cards and reforming the gasoline distribution system is a precursor to the implementation of this plan. Yesterday, the manager of the smart fuel system announced the start of a pilot project for allocating fuel quotas with bank cards based on national ID numbers until the end of July and stated that current fuel cards will be eliminated. Mohammad Sadeghi emphasized that the current fuel cards will be collected, replaced by bank cards, and quotas will be transferred to individuals' bank cards based on their national ID numbers. The troubles of gasoline that people consume; the Taliban also does not accept Iranian gasoline. The increase in gasoline consumption in Iran; whispers of importing gasoline from Russia at a price higher than the global price. The determination of the thirteenth government to increase gasoline prices; the gasoline pot has reached the bottom. The announcement of a "critical situation" for gasoline and diesel by Iranian officials. The government's move to increase fuel prices; Shargh newspaper: gasoline consumption statistics have "disappeared." Media whispers about the rise in gasoline prices; domestic gasoline production is not cost-effective.